“Some spots in this city don’t just remember — they retaliate. Washington Park don’t forget, and it don’t forgive.”
Once the pride of South Side leisure, Washington Park has long since traded picnic baskets for protest signs and quiet strolls for ritual sites. The park itself, stretching wide and green, is the beating heart of the district—but it’s a heart with old scars. To the west lies Garfield Boulevard, once a corridor of aspiration. To the east, Woodlawn claws for survival. The 'L' roars nearby, and the university keeps its wary distance, as if scared to catch what this place still carries.
The park’s past is marked by civic pride and racist exclusion, by parades and bodies dumped in the lagoon. In the 1950s, it stands as a stage: jazzmen busk for rent, hoodoo women whisper from benches, and city workers scrape sigils off bathroom stalls before the mayor’s visit. There’s beauty here, but it’s layered under struggle—and something older, watching from beneath the trees.
Neighborhoods
Washington Park Proper
A blend of crumbling greystones and brick walkups, Washington Park’s central neighborhood still clings to community strength. Churches double as soup kitchens and safehouses. Gangs are present, sure, but so are teachers, boxers, and rootworkers keeping the balance. Residents speak of “things in the trees” and “whispers near the lagoon”—but most know better than to go looking.
Cottage Grove Strip
Running north-south along the eastern edge of the park, Cottage Grove is a pressure valve for all the surrounding tension. Storefronts serve as unofficial meeting spots for local organizers, runners, and low-level Veil practitioners. Some say the street was laid wrong — that the lines here don’t match the rest of the city. They mean magical lines. No one laughs when they say it.
Notes
A notorious fixer named Roosevelt "Two-Cut" Gaines holds court at a domino table in the park’s north pavilion.
On foggy mornings, stray dogs are seen pacing in circles around the lagoon. Locals call them “The Choir.”
The park’s Field House once hosted boxing matches… but after 1947, no one's allowed in the basement.
Hoodoo chalk marks appear every Sunday at the war memorial. They're swept up, but always return.
The Outfit uses the east end baseball diamond to hold "quiet meetings."
A statue near the tennis courts weeps real blood every solstice—just a single drop, always down the left cheek.
The park listens. The streets watch. And if you bleed on the grass here, it remembers your name.
| Wealth |
|
| Security & Safety |
|
| Criminal Influence |
|
| Occult Influence |
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| African American |
87% |
| White (primarily older Polish/Irish residents) |
7% |
| Mexican/Mexican-American |
3% |
| Other |
3% |
|
South Side
|
|
Southwest Side
|
Washington Park
Important Locations
Washington Park Lagoon – Large body of water known for drownings, strange reflections, and lingering fog.
DuSable Museum (future site as of early 50s) – An emerging plan for a cultural museum tied to Black heritage and civic pride.
Garfield 'L' Station – Bustling transit node, a hub for both workers and watchers.
Field House Gym – Community gym with a Veil-sealed basement. Boxers still train upstairs.
Fountain of Youth Memorial – Defaced and restored more times than anyone can count. It’s never quite right.
Washington Park Proper:
The Fifth Pew Mission – Protestant chapel run by a preacher with a demon scar.
Cicero & Sons Mortuary – Quiet outfit front with a Veil-soaked embalming room.
Carmen's Cut & Conjure – Barber shop and rootworker sanctuary, depending on the day.
The Flophouse Mile – Stretch of abandoned boarding homes, now shelter to more spirits than squatters.
The Tether Stone – A chunk of rough granite chained in place behind a fence. No one remembers placing it.
Auntie Mo's Garden – Half vegetable plot, half shrine to something called "the One Beneath."
Cottage Grove Strip:
Percy’s Stop & Sip – Bottle shop that also sells dreams and dead man’s shoes.
King’s Laundry – Message drop for street crews, cops, and worse.
Velvet Riddle Lounge – Jazz bar with a backroom that hosts Veil readings.
Dead Cross Alley – Alley that people walk in straight but exit… changed.
Shrine of the Blue Door – Just a doorframe, painted bright blue, standing in an empty lot.
The Coil House – Tenement where everyone’s clocks run backward on Tuesdays.
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